Freespace 2 is a fun, encompassing, and robust space-combat game. The gameplay is similiar to games of the Wing Commander series, but much deeper and refined. In fact, it's probably one of the best playing 3D combat games around. And despite the fact that it's been a few years since its initial release, Freespace 2 has graphics that are still considered gorgeous by today's standards. What's more, the developers also included a robust and capable mission-editor, so you can make your own missions. Gamers who liked the original "Descent: Freespace" will not be disappointed by this sequel.
GAMEPLAY: You, the player, are a fighter pilot in Freespace 2. You play the game from a first-person perspective - inside the cockpit of your fighter. This game seems like it has a lot of influence from both the Wing Commander and the X-Wing games. Like those games, the idea is to get enemy ships in your cross hairs and destroy them with your fighter's weapons - guns and missiles. Guns are primarily the weapon of choice, while missiles are limited and can require a lock-on to be useful. You'll have to bank, roll, and turn quickly to keep enemy fighters in front of you and off your back. Should an enemy get on your tail, you'll have to shake him off, or get ready to release countermeasures if missiles are fired on you. You'll also have to keep an eye on your shields and hull strength. While the shields protect your ship's hull and can be recharged; your hull strength cannot be repaired during battle. Once your hull strength reaches a level of "0," you're dead. So keeping those shields charged is of utmost importance. Finally, you'll also have to balance the power distribution to shields, lasers, and engines to get the full potential of your fighter. This all may sound very complicated. But Freespace 2 is surprisingly easy to learn and a blast to play.
I must admit that most of the enemy fighters are pretty easy to kill, especially with missiles. But since your missiles are limited, you are forced to use your guns most of the time - which is a good thing. I think one of Freespace 2's strengths is that battles do not degenerate into a missile-lock-on fest. Instead, gunnery skills and good flying are the emphasis, making for a more enjoyable gaming experience. Capital ships, on the other hand, are a different story. Among other defenses, capital ships are equipped with beam weapons. These emit high-energy beams of light that can destroy a fighter in a matter of moments. So by stark contrast, attacking a capital ship is much more difficult than attacking a wing of enemy fighters.
Targeting the right enemy is crucial. Freespace 2 has settings for targeting enemies in all situations. As you control you fighter with your joystick, you'll also need to use keyboard controls to target the right enemy. You can target the nearest enemy, the enemy who has targeted you, an enemy who is attacking your capital ship, or cycle through all the enemies as needed. Auto-targeting is also available, for those who don't want to fiddle with the keyboard too much. Furthermore, each targeted enemy is also signified with a target "lead." Since your fighter is actually firing bolts of energy and not beams of light, you need to fire ahead of your target's path. The target lead helps you to do this by showing you where you should fire. In this way, your shots help to converge on your target better, increasing your chance to hit it. Of course, this doesn't guarantee a hit since most enemy fighters can dodge effectively.
Freespace2 is a game played in missions. Before each mission begins, a detailed briefing on your objectives and goals are reviewed. You can also choose what missiles are loaded, what types of guns are equipped, and which fighter (or bomber) you wish to fly. Once you begin, you must fight off enemy fighters, bombers, and capital ships. Depending on the mission, your goals can include any combination of the following: intercepting enemy fighters, attacking large capital ships, performing reconnaissance, guarding friendly ships, and even destroying warheads that are speeding towards your own capital ships. Missions end by jumping into "subspace," which is basically going into warp, or into hyperspace - depending on what sci-fi term you wish to use. (More on "subspace" jumping later). What's great about many of the missions is that they are anything but ordinary. While intercepting enemy fighters, you could be called back to defend your command ship from an ambush; or during an attack on enemy fighters, your wingmen begin to question the nature of the mission itself. These types of unpredictable situations make the game a test of both your trigger finger as well as your head. Deciding what objective to accomplish first can be the difference between failure and victory.
My only complaint is that some missions are very difficult. And it will take several tries for most people to overcome these more challenging missions. Regardless of that, Freespace 2 is a great improvement over the original in every way. In my opinion, X-Wing Alliance has slightly better gameplay, but not by much. Still, Freespace 2 has gameplay on-par with X-Wing Alliance and it has better graphics. And between the two, Freespace 2 is a more complete package as it's mission editor is much, much better. In fact, the mission editor even allows you to import media files for your very own mission-briefings.
INTERFACE: Freespace 2 has an interface that is top-notch. The gameplay screen shows just about every bit of information you can think of. Cross-hairs, speed, engine output, afterburner reserves, missiles, gun energy, shields, damage, target-status, and radar are displayed clearly and logically. Among other features are: the ability to track the condition of ships you are guarding (even while you target other ships); locking-on to enemy ships' subsystems; scanning ships' cargo, and seeing the status of each of your wingmen. All this information may sound like it overwhelms your gaming experience. In actuality, the information is well-placed and doesn't not obstruct your view of the action. In fact, much of the interface's graphics are semi-transparent allowing you to see things in front of you better. What's more, the interface is fully customizable allowing you to change color, opacity, and even turn off displays you don't want. I recommend playing this game at a screen resolution of 1024 x 768. Since the interface graphics do not scale, lower resolutions like 640 x 480 actually make the interface graphics look too large or visually cumbersome.
SHIPS: Freespace 2 has a lot of different types of fighters, some of which you pilot, while others you fight against. Some are fast and agile with low shielding, while others are slower, with lots of shielding and lots of firepower. Each fighter is designed specifically for certain mission types. While not all missions give you a choice, it is important to choose the appropriate fighter when you are given a chance. Also, there are different types of weapons in this game. Missiles vary greatly. Some achieve a lock-on quickly, while others require more time but pack a lot of firepower. My favorite is the swarm missile which splits into several smaller missiles when fired and home-in on your target together - very hard to avoid. Also, there are different types of guns. Some fire rapidly while others fire more slowly but cause more damage. Choosing the best weapons for each mission is, of course, crucial especially against large capital ships. The only problem with the weapons is that only a few choices are available during the first half of the game. It would be more enjoyable to get access to the other weapons earlier rather than later in the course of Freespace 2's single-player game.
Capital ships like corvettes, cruisers, and destroyers are very deadly in this game. Not only do they have flak cannons, laser guns, and missile batteries; but they also have beam weapons. Beam weapons emit massive laser beams, so strong that they can often destroy a fighter in one or two hits. When attacking capital ships, Freespace 2 allows you to target subsystems like engines, sensors, navigation, cannons, and of course, beam weapons. In fact, it is often advisable to destroy the beam weapon subsystems on enemy capital ships first to reduce their firepower. Destroying other subsystems like the engines, navigation, and the sensors can leave the capital ship crippled, lost, or blind respectively.
JOYSTICK: Each fighter acts much like an airplane. Naturally, a joystick designed for flight games is the best type of game controller for Freespace 2. Most joysticks of this type have a hat-switch. By default, the hat-switch is used to look side-to-side, to the rear, to the top, and to the front of your fighter. Although a throttle is not found on every joystick, it is recommended that you have one. The keyboard controls for speed can be cumbersome to use in the midst of a fast-paced battle. A throttle is much-better suited for quick and precise speed control. If your joystick has rudder control, you'll be able to rotate your ship as well. I happen to use a Sidewinder Precision Pro joystick with a hat switch, a built-in throttle and rudder control.
STORY: Freespace 2 takes place 3 decades where the original game left off. In the original game, the player was a fighter pilot for the Terrans (humans). The Terrans had a vast civilization spanning many planetary systems including Earth. These systems were linked by jump-nodes that allowed travel between each planetary system. By using the jump-nodes, ships could pass into "subspace" whereby accelerated travel is possible. Unfortunately, a final battle to defeat alien invaders known as the Shivans destroyed the jump-node to Earth, severing all ties with the rest of the Terran systems. In Freespace 2, taking place some 30 years later, Earth remains isolated and all communication and travel to the Terran homeworld is still impossible. Civil war is threatening to break out, and to make matters worse, the Shivans return to wreak more havoc on mankind.
The story is actually very good. It is told through the missions themselves as well as short animated cut-scenes that occur at different points of the game. Laced with philosophy as well as greed, evil, and treachery, Freespace 2 has all the makings of an epic sci-fi novel. With the mysterious Shivans at the center of the both the conflict and the focus of the game's interest, Freespace 2 will keep you playing till the very end.
GRAPHICS: Even though this game was released a few years ago, it still looks great. The shear size of cruisers, destroyers, and other larger vessels is amazing. Freespace 2 has some of the largest spaceships in any video game. The design of the space ships is also quite unique. Terran ships look streamlined, industrial, and sometimes weathered; Vasudan ships look geometric and organic; and Shivan ships look downright demonic and scary. The effects of the game are also very well done. Fighters explode beautifully with arms of lightning and balls of fire. Capital ships explode with huge flashes of light and flying debris. The background of space is often filled with asteroids or a magnificent nebula-cloud. In fact, some missions take place inside a nebula, where conditions are storm-like with clouds of electricity and dangerous gases. The video cutscenes of pre-rendered animations is excellent. With such great graphic achievements, it's not a surprise that the game is a bit demanding on system resources. A good graphics card is a must, at least 16megs ( I recommend at least 32megs). Most of the battles were at relatively high frame-rate. Larger battles between ships in excess of 30 or more sometimes got a little choppy, but nothing to really complain about.
SOUND: Freespace 2 has a great sound track with both blood-pumping orchestrations as well as ominous overtones. The sound effects are also excellent. When capital ships explode, it is often accompanied by thunderous low-frequency booms that even shake your fighter if you're close enough.
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